Washington Lawmaker Introduces Bill to Allow CBD in Food

Washington Rep. Drew MacEwen introduced legislation Jan. 7 that would authorize CBD as a legal ingredient in food products, according to an East Oregonian report.

H.B. 2296 not only conflicts with the Washington State Department of Agriculture’s warning to processors to not use CBD as an ingredient in products meant to be ingested by humans or animals, but also defies the FDA’s prohibition of CBD as a food ingredient on the federal level.

“We still have concerns about allowing CBD in food,” Chris McGann, a spokesman for the agriculture department, told East Oregonian. “A state-led effort to allow food ingredients not allowed by the FDA would be complicated to enforce and put processors and markets at risk.”

The Washington Legislature passed a bill last year to regulate hemp in response to the 2018 Farm Bill, East Oregonian reported, and while the legislation allows the hemp plant to be used as food, it also directs the state agriculture department to defer to federal a law in regulating hemp as a food ingredient.

MacEwen introduced a second bill, H.B. 2300, on Jan. 7 that would allow CBD-infused products to be sold by the state’s cannabis retailers, East Oregonian reported. Under current law, retailers can only sell cannabis products that contain at least 0.3% THC.